WEST POINT — Chris Craven knows the enormity of the task that his Oak Hill Academy football team faces Friday night.
All Craven has to do is look at his team’s last eight meetings against Heritage Academy and see an 0-8 record that features three shutouts, including a 31-0 loss last season.
But Craven, who is in his first season as Oak Hill Academy’s head coach, and his ninth season at the school, isn’t putting a lot of stock in what has happened in the past. Instead, Craven and the Raiders are focused on being as prepared as they can be at 7 p.m. Friday to have a chance to end that losing streak. If that sounds like a cliche, you don’t know Craven because he is a stickler for doing things the right way and making sure the Raiders are fundamentally sound in every aspect. When you have 15 players not including freshmen on your varsity roster, that’s the kind of focus you need if you are going to go on the road and beat a higher classification Mississippi Association of Independent Schools rival.
“Some people call it a rival, but I don’t know how much of a rival it is if you have been getting beat by them for (that long),” Craven said. “We’re trying to make a great effort to change the mentality of how you prepare to play, how you play — perfect effort for perfect execution. All you can do is try your best, but the moment you don’t try your best as a player or as a coach, that is going to be the moment the letdown comes.
“We are definitely a very humble team. We have played well the past two weeks, and our boys really rose to the challenge against Newton (County Academy in a 42-0 victory) and were able to remain and stay focused like a team should.”
Oak Hill Academy improved to 2-0 last week with a 49-7 victory against Tupelo Christian Prep. The Raiders again had a balanced effort that featured a 141-yard, three-touchdown effort by senior running back Drew Riley.
Craven said Oak Hill had a Bible verse prior to the game that refers to a Bible verse from Proverbs that says, “Pride comes before the fall, but God exalts the humble,” according to Craven.
This week, Craven said the team’s Bible verse is from Matthew 19:26 and says, “Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
Craven said the Raiders will attack that task after losing two players to injuries. He said neither of the injuries is season ending, but losing the players makes things even tougher because it depletes the team’s depth and could force him to go to freshmen for a play or two to give other players a breather.
But Craven and the Raiders knew they were going to face challenges like this throughout the season. He said the players have done a good job of not allowing their first two victories to make them overconfident and that they have stuck together and realize everyone needs to do their part for the team to be successful.
“I believe if the leadership of this ballclub will lead in a humble fashion that the rest of the team will follow suit in a humble fashion,” Craven said.
Oak Hill Academy will travel to Columbus to take on a Heritage Academy team that lost to Lamar School 47-7. Heritage Academy defeated Columbus Christian 48-0 in its season opener.
But Heritage Academy coach Barrett Donahoe said the Patriots don’t want to re-live what they experienced last week. He admitted the team had a good discussion about its performance and highlighted the need for Heritage Academy to focus on itself, not the opponent.
“The thing about Friday night that our guys have to take away it they want to be better is that even though we played a team that at this point in the season was superior to us and apparently was more prepared — and that is on the coaching staff — and apparently was more physical, when you reflect back on what happened, it was us,” Donahoe said. “We fumbled the football. We busted coverages. We didn’t come down and tackle and be physical. It is on us. All of the mistakes we made were things we couldn’t overcome, not against a good team and we won’t be able to overcome them against a bad opponent. … If we don’t do a better job of controlling what we can control, we’re not going to be successful.”
Donahoe said the Patriots need to create a different mind-set that helps the team enter each game with a lot of confidence. He said the coaches have talked to the players about developing that mentality in the past, but he said they haven’t harped on it as much as they have done this season. He said the coaches are stressing the importance of that mentality because they want the players to believe they can do it.
“Winning is contagious, just as losing is contagious,” Donahoe said. “You can get the mentality as you move on down the road — and you might not say it out loud — that your confidence level against an opponent is not that high because you haven’t had success against them in the past, I want to get past that.”
Donahoe said Heritage Academy’s ability to concentrate on itself will be challenging because its next three opponents — Oak Hill Academy, Lee Academy, and Pisgah — enter this weekend with 2-0 records. He said the quality of the next three opponents underscores the importance of playing fundamentally sound football and minimizing mistakes. If the Patriots can do both of those things, Donahoe likes his team’s chances. If they can’t, Donahoe doesn’t want to think about that.
“When I watched the film from last Friday night’s game, we did not look a fundamentally sound football team,” Donahoe said. “More than anything that hurts me and our coaching staff to the core because we pride ourselves in truing to be a fundamentally sound football team. We as coaches have to do a better job in getting us there.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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